Jack Shephard

Template:Otherpeople4 Template:Infobox Lost character Dr. Jack Shephard is a fictional character on the ABC television series Lost played by Matthew Fox. Jack is the de facto main character of the series and leader of the crash survivors.

Background

Jack has the most flashback episodes of all the characters with a total of nine to date, and was the first to have a flashforward. He is the son of Christian Shephard, half brother of Claire Littleton, and uncle of Aaron Littleton, though neither he nor Claire know this.

Jack is a talented spinal surgeon at St. Sebastian Hospital in the Los Angeles area, where his father, Christian, is Chief of Surgery. Jack had previously attended Columbia University and went on to graduate from medical school ahead of the rest of his class. Jack has been portrayed as a “man of science” and a natural leader. He has tattoos on his left arm that he received in Phuket, Thailand, which reads in Chinese, "He walks among us, but he is not one of us."

After the crash of Oceanic 815, the survivors defer to him as their leader from the start. Though reluctant at first to accept this responsibility, he gradually grows comfortable with taking charge.

Character biography

Prior to the crash

Jack was born into a successful family, with aspirations of following in the footsteps of his surgeon father, who told Jack at an early age that he would never make a great leader. Following college and early in his career as a spinal surgeon, Jack operated on a young girl, in the process accidentally severing a nerve sac in her spine. Following a brief panic, he counted to five and fully repaired the damage, a story he would later recall to Kate as a way to manage fear. Jack later operates on Sarah, a woman involved in a car accident with Adam Rutherford (Shannon's father). Speaking to Sarah before the operation, he vows that despite the high likelihood of her becoming a paraplegic, he will "fix her." After the operation, he runs the stairs in a stadium to relieve stress, where he meets and races Desmond for the first time. Returning to the hospital, Jack is surprised to discover that Sarah can move her toes. Following her recovery, the two marry on August 15.

Months later, as Jack's marriage grows strained, he and Christian are approached by an Italian man with a inoperable tumor, who asks Jack to operate on him. Jack reluctantly agrees, but is unable to save the man during surgery, who dies on the table of heart failure. As Jack consoles the man's distraught daughter in the parking lot, he is drawn into a kiss. He returns home to Sarah and apologetically confesses to her, at which point she admits that despite her love for him, she has been cheating on him, and leaves him that night. Unable to bear this loss, Jack refuses to cooperate during the divorce procedures, demanding to know the identity of the man she is seeing. When Sarah refuses, Jack steals her phone bill and calls all the listed numbers, one of whom belongs to his father Christian. Jack follows his father to an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, where he attacks him and is arrested. As Sarah bails him out of jail, she reveals that Christian has relapsed back into alcoholism.

Jack retreats to Thailand for several months, where he has an affair with Achara, a secretive young woman with a unique gift of seeing a person's true self. Jack follows her and demands that she describe his true character. Achara reveals that he is a great leader, but is also angry and lonely as a result. Jack requests a tattoo of his description, but Achara secretly brands him an "outsider," prompting the previously friendly locals to banish him from the country. Jack returns to the United States and resumes his surgeon duties, on one occasion relieving his father during an operation on a woman. Following her death, Jack discovers that Christian was intoxicated during the operation. Although Christian initially persuades Jack to sign a report and ignore his intoxication, Jack changes his mind upon learning of the woman's pregnancy, and exposes his father as a chronic alcoholic, shattering Christian's career.

Months later, Jack's mother orders him to find and return Christian, who has exiled himself to Australia. An irate Jack travels to Sydney to track down his father, but instead discovers his body in a morgue, having died of a severe heart attack from his alcohol abuse. Jack arranges for a funeral back home, but has trouble clearing the casket at the airport. His request is eventually granted, and Jack spends the last few minutes at the airport bar, where he strikes up a flirtatious conversation with Ana Lucia before boarding the doomed flight. Mid-flight, air hostess Cindy slips him two bottles of vodka to ease his tension. He keeps Rose company while her husband is in the toilet at the rear of the plane when turbulence hits. Before crashing, however, Jack passes out. He is known on the island for being a leader and has been in competition with Sawyer whilst trying to fight for Kate's love..

After the crash

Season 1

Jack wakes up in the jungle, with a large gash on his back. He emerges from the jungle, bewildered at first, to discover the crash site. He immediately rushes over to help as many people as possible; he pulls a man from beneath the plane wheel, he rescues Claire and Hurley from a collapsing wing, and manages to revive Rose. Later, he encounters Kate, and asks her to sew up his gash. That night, he and Kate plan to head inland to find the cockpit, as well as the radio transceiver. They are soon joined by Charlie, and the three successfully find the cockpit. After a brief encounter with the "Monster", Jack returns to the beach, where is called to examine an unconscious United States Marshall impaled on shrapnel. He manages to control his bleeding, and learns of Kate's criminal past. When Sawyer fails to kill him, Jack performs euthanasia on the Marshall.

Deprived of sleep, Jack begins hallucinating, and follows visions of Christian, discovering a set of caves, complete with a fresh water source. He leads a handful of survivors to take up residence. However, during an argument with Charlie, he is caught in a cave in. Charlie comes to his rescue, and helps him escape. Since then, Jack deals with the survivors' illnesses up until Claire and Charlie's abduction. He, Kate, Locke and Boone search for the two, but only succeed in rescuing Charlie after Jack is beaten by Ethan. Jack also takes possessions of the guns contained in the Marshall's briefcase after taking the key from Kate. After Ethan threatens Charlie to return Claire to him, Jack conducts a plan to capture and interrogate him; the plan backfires when Charlie shoots and kills him with Jack's dropped gun. Later, Locke brings a critically injured Boone to the caves, and Jack and Sun work into the night to try and save him. The next morning, Jack informs Shannon of her brother's demise.

Kate drugs Jack in order to get him to sleep. When he awakens, the key to the guns are missing. His suspicions fall upon Locke, and he, Kate and Sayid enter the jungle to find Shannon holding Locke at gunpoint. The next day, Sayid takes Jack to the hatch, discovered by Locke. When Rousseau arrives on the beach, she takes Jack, Kate, Locke, Hurley and Arzt to the Black Rock, in order to gather some dynamite. After the sudden demise of Arzt, Jack and Locke set up the dynamite around the hatch, and successfully blow it open. The four peer down into the hatch.

Season 2

Jack declines to descend the newly opened hatch, telling Locke and Kate not to enter. After they disobey his orders and enter, Jack follows after them, where he discovers Locke being held hostage by Desmond, who had been living in the hatch for the past three years. He shows the three of them an orientation video, but flees when Kate damages the computer. Jack pursues him and realizes he recognizes him from the time before when he ran laps at the stadium. Desmond gives Jack the code to enter into the computer which resets the countdown. Following Desmond's departure, Jack and Locke set up a rotating shift for certain survivors to enter the code into the computer. One day, while Jack and Kate spend a day playing golf, they encounter Mr. Eko carrying a critically injured Sawyer. They take them into the hatch, where Jack plots revenge for Shannon's death, but changes his mind when he learns more about the accident. Jack and Kate take turns tending to Sawyer, and Jack leaves him in her care while he departs. After the funeral, Jack and Locke return to the hatch where they find the counter close to zero and Sawyer unconscious on the ground. After helping Sawyer, a livid Jack searches for and corners Kate, who apologizes for not being “as perfect as you.” Through her tears, she claims that the island is driving her mad, and kisses Jack passionately before running away.

Jack finds Locke unconscious in the hatch armory. As he enters, Michael confronts him, armed with weapons and insisting that neither Jack nor Locke follow him as he leaves to search for his son. Despite the warning, Jack, Locke and Sawyer pursue him, only to encounter the Others, who hold Kate hostage and ransom her for their weapons. Jack, enraged with Kate, ignores her during their return to the beach. Later, Jack becomes an unsuspecting pawn in Sawyer's long con to steal the remaining weapons and medicine. Meanwhile, Danielle reveals that she caught a member of the Others. Jack, Locke and Sayid bring captured man, named "Henry Gale", into the hatch and interrogate him. During the subsequent interrogations, Gale toys with Jack and Locke's grudge, frequently pitting them against each other, before Sayid, Ana Lucia and Charlie expose Henry as an imposter.

Jack and Kate decide to approach the Others to trade Henry for Walt. At the meeting point where Kate was previously held hostage, the Others refuse to appear. Kate and Jack set up camp for the night and while sitting by the fire, Kate apologizes to Jack for kissing him. Jack replies that he has no regrets. The two's intimate moment is interrupted when a wounded and exhausted Michael stumbles from the bushes. After he regains consciousness, Michael promises to take Jack to the Others' camp. As Jack asks Sawyer for the guns, he learns about Ana Lucia's intention to kill Henry. Jack, Kate, Locke and Sawyer rush to the hatch to discover Ana Lucia dead, with Michael and Libby severely injured from gunshot wounds. Initially intent on pursuing Henry, Jack stays and administers confiscated heroin to the dying Libby to ease her pain. Following her death, he agrees to follow Michael to the Others' camp. The group departs the next day, having been cautioned by a wary Sayid that Michael may be a traitor. On the way to the camp, Jack, Kate, Sawyer and Hurley are surprised and gagged and taken to the pier in restraints. Hurley is freed and ordered to return to the survivors as a warning, and Jack witnesses Michael and Walt leaving the island aboard a boat. Jack, Kate and Sawyer are taken away with the Others.

Season 3

Jack finds himself held in a room with a glass wall, where he is questioned by Juliet. Jack refuses to cooperate with her or Ben, almost flooding the hatch. Since then, he eventually begins to settle down. On his second day as captive, Juliet seeks his medical expertise to operate on Colleen, but she flat lines and dies on the table. Jack notices some x-rays on the wall, and asks about the tumor on the spine. After attending the funeral, Ben reveals that he wants him to operate on him, to which Jack spitefully refuses. Juliet wants Kate to talk to Jack to ask him to do the surgery or they will kill Sawyer. She agrees. She is brought to the room where Jack is, emotion overcomes the both of them. Jack asks Kate why they are letting her talk to him, she says they need him to do the surgery, warning that they will kill Sawyer if he doesn't do it. Jack is initially very hostile after this revelation and demands that they remove Kate from his room. However, after seeing Kate and Sawyer together in the cages, he reluctantly agrees. Under Juliet's secret instruction, during the operation Jack deliberately slices open Ben's kidney, and holds Ben hostage until Kate and Sawyer escape. Juliet attempts to call his bluff, but Jack reveals her intended plan. After a discussion with Juliet and Ben, Jack resumes and completes the surgery. He is then questioned by Isabel about Juliet's motives, to which Jack denies his claims. He succeeds in sparing Juliet execution for killing one of her own, and is taken back to the Others' barracks.

Jack appears to have bonded with some of the Others during his time there, particulary Juliet. When Kate attempts to rescue him, Jack warns her that he is under surveillance, and later admits that he has struck a deal to go home, along with Juliet. However, Locke thwarts his plans by destroying the submarine. Later, Jack is knocked out by nerve gas, and is later found by Kate. When talking to Kate, Jack asks if Juliet has gone too, causing Kate to go silent. She tells him they left her behind too. Noticing the barracks completely abandoned, Jack, Kate, Sayid and Juliet return to the beach. Jack remains protective of Juliet, and intervenes whenever Sayid attempts to interrogate her. Upon arriving back at the beach, Claire suddenly falls critically ill, and Jack learns of the fate of all pregnant women on the island. He allows Juliet to treat her, to which Claire makes a full recovery. Later, Jack and Juliet learn of the arrival of Naomi. Soon after, Jack and Juliet head into the jungle to seek Rousseau's help, and ask her to retrieve some dynamite.

Upon returning to the beach, Jack and Juliet walk in on a camp meeting, who are now aware of Juliet's purpose for being amongst them. However, Jack leads them into the jungle the next day to reveal their true intentions; to rig the targeted tents with dynamite in order to destroy the Others when they invade the camp the following night. However, Jack is forced to drastically change his plan when Karl informs them that the Others are coming very shortly. Jack allows Sayid, Jin and Bernard to remain behind while he leads everyone else to the radio tower. They witness the plan backfire that night, but Jack insists they press on. On the way to the tower Sawyer tells Jack he is going back to the beach and Juliet goes with him, but gives Jack a kiss before she goes. Kate see's this and is very jealous. Later on he talks to Kate about that when Sawyer said he didn't want her to go. He says that he was protecting Kate, that is why he asked Kate not to come back to the others camp for him. Kate than askes him why he is sticking up for Sawyer, Jack replies with "Because I love you". He eventually encounters Ben and Alex in the jungle, to which Ben tricks Jack into thinking that Sayid, Jin and Bernard are dead. Jack takes Ben hostage again, and takes him with them to the tower. After Locke apparently kills Naomi, Jack uses her satellite phone to make contact with her freighter.

Season 4

Jack tells Hurley that they've made contact with the freighter, and that they're all headed back to the beach. As they're about the leave, Jack realizes that the supposedly 'dead' Naomi has disappeared. Rousseau and Kate find two different trails; Jack opts to follow Rousseau's, and tells Kate to take the others back to the beach. Kate hugs him, and then Jack, Rousseau and Ben head out to look for Naomi. When they reach the end of the trail Rousseau explains Naomi has fooled them, and then Jack realizes the satellite phone is missing - Ben tells him Kate took it when she hugged him, and that she obviously found the right trail as well. They eventually meet the other survivors at the cockpit; Jack attacks Locke and aims a gun at his head. Locke tells him that he won't shoot, but before he can finish speaking Jack pulls the trigger - the gun isn't loaded. When Kate returns with news of Naomi's death, Locke explains that they need to hide, prompting Jack to call him crazy. As some of the survivors, including Sawyer and Hurley, head off with Locke to hide in the Barracks, Jack and Kate stay to wait for the helicopter. When it arrives and a man parachutes out, Jack and Kate run into the jungle and meet him. The man introduces himself as Daniel Faraday and claims he's there to rescue them, however Jack becomes somewhat suspicious when he notices that Daniel is concealing a gun; when he and Kate discover a metal case from Daniel's helicopter containing HAZMAT suits and gas masks, Daniel admits that rescuing them is not their primary objective. Jack, Kate, and Daniel then go to meet one of Daniel's teammates, Miles, who immediently draws his gun on Jack and accuses him of killing Naomi. When Jack and Kate take them to Naomi's body, Miles accepts that Naomi was killed by Locke, but nevertheless does not lower his weapon, ordering Daniel to do the same. Jack gives a reassuring wink to Kate and tells Miles and Daniel to put their guns down, warning them of Sayid and Juliet, who he notices are approaching with guns. Miles does not believe Jack, but then Juliet and Sayid fire warning shots at Miles and Daniel, forcing them to give up their weapons. They then pick up the signal of a third teammate, Charlotte, but when they find Charlotte's GPS beacon attached to Vincent, Jack concludes that Locke has taken Charlotte prisoner. They find the team's pilot, Frank, who takes them to the helicopter. Jack later intervenes when Miles begins to get agressive with Juliet when he learns she is a native. Here, Miles reveals to Jack, Kate, Sayid, and Juliet that their real mission is to find Ben. Later, he and Juliet pursue Daniel and Charlotte when they run off to find the Tempest. They later find Kate, who has been pistol-whipped by Charlotte. Juliet continues the search while Jack stays behind to tend to Kate. Later, they catch up to Daniel, Charlotte, and Juliet at the Tempest station. Juliet convinces Jack and Kate that Daniel and Charlotte just saved there lives, convincing them to lower their guns. Later, Juliet explains to Jack that a war is coming between the freighter crew and Ben, and that she believes that Ben will win. She then warns him to be as far away from her as possible when that happens, due to her feelings for him (Jack) and Ben's twisted love for her. Jack says that he is willing to face Ben when that day comes, and proceeds to share kiss with Juliet. All five later return to the beach. Later, Jack begins to suffer from mysterious stomach pains, while he and the other survivors discover a body that has washed ashore. Faraday claims that it is the body of the Kahana's doctor, Ray. Due to the satellite phone being damaged, Faraday is forced to use Morse Code to get a message through. When a reply comes, he claims that it says that rescue helicopters will be sent soon. However, Bernard Nadler calls him on this lie and reveals that the message actually said "What are you talking about? The doctor is fine". Jack, still suffering from his stomach pain, then forces Faraday to reveal that the Kahana's crew never had any intention of rescuing the survivors.

In the next episode Something Nice Back Home, Jack falls ill with an appendix about to rupture. Juliet claims she has to perform basic surgery on him, and he agrees. As he prepares, he asks Juliet to allow Kate to watch and act as a nurse (hold the mirror), because he wants to watch the surgery on himself, albeit the painful procedure. He gets his wish at first, but initially Bernard knocks him out for his own good. The surgery is a success, and as Juliet sews the wound up, Kate chats with her while Jack is asleep. Juliet reveals to her that Jack kissed her, but he still loves Kate. Kate thanks her for saving his life, and exits. Juliet then tells Jack she knows he is feigning sleep, to which Jack responds by merely opening his eyes, a solemn expression on his face.

After the Island

In The Beginning of the End, sometime after leaving the Island, Jack is mixing a drink in his apartment, when he sees a car chase on television, who he recognizes as Hurley. Shortly after that, Jack goes to Santa Rosa Mental Health Institute to check on Hurley's mental condition and starts playing a game of HORSE. Jack asks Hurley if he was "going to tell." Jack then gets his coat and proceeds to leave. Hurley then apologizes to Jack and said that he was sorry that he went with Locke instead of him, and Jack accepts his apology. Hurley finally asks Jack if they should go back to the Island since it keeps calling to him, and Jack responds, "Never." Hurley then says, "Never say never, dude."

In Eggtown, Jack takes the stand as a character witness in Kate's trial and testifies that she saved him and eight others including the surviving Oceanic Six. He becomes very emotional on the stand and under cross examination by the prosecution says that he does not love Kate anymore. After Kate's mother refuses to testify against Kate, she is released on a plea deal and is leaving the courthouse when she is confronted by Jack. Again, emotional, he says that he was lying under oath and that he still loves her. She asks him if wants to follow her, come by for a visit, but he makes an excuse to get to the hospital but he asks if she would be willing to go out with him. Kate gives an exasperated look and tells him that he has to see her son (who we learn is called Aaron Claire's son). However she does tell him to come over whenever he feels like seeing her and the baby. The reason for Jack's hesitation in seeing Aaron is not given.

In Something Nice Back Home, Jack is seen living in a relationship with Kate, also acting as a step-father for his nephew Aaron, showing that Jack changed his mind about not wanting to see the child. Later, he asks Kate to marry him, which she happily accepts. After a series of events, including getting a messege from Charlie through Hurley telling him "not raise the child" and seeing his dead father, Jack is seen starting to take pills and drinking. He later confronts Kate and after an argument Jack leaves.

In Through the Looking Glass, some time has passed and Jack is now seperated from Kate and has become a drug-addicted alcoholic. While on a plane, he finds a small note in a newspaper, and is obviously deeply disturbed by it. Once he has landed, he takes his car and drives up on a bridge. He looks at the note again, and starts to cry. He gets out of the car and climbs on top of the ledge of the bridge, meaning to jump. Just before he can jump off the bridge, however, a car crashes and he rescues a woman and her son from the wreckage. Back in the hospital, he encounters his pregnant ex-wife, since her name was still listed as his Emergency Contact. The next day, Jack wants to perform back surgery on the woman from the car accident, but the Chief of Surgery rebuffs him and tells him to rest at home.

Jack then goes to a funeral of an unidentified person and is the only person to show up. Later he attempts to fill a prescription for Oxycodone; however the prescription is out of refills. Jack pulls out a new prescription and after reviewing it, the pharmacist tells him that he cannot prescribe medicine for himself. He then unsuccessfully tries to explain that it was written for him by his father, also a doctor. She again refuses to fill it. Visibly frustrated, Jack staggers out, knocking over several displays in the process. He then returns to the hospital and steals several small packages of Oxycodone. Confronted by Dr. Hamill, Jack is informed that the woman has awoken from her surgery and had divulged the reason for the accident: she saw a man standing on the bridge railing, about to jump. Upon being accused of being drunk, Jack tells the Chief to get his father so that he can see which Shephard is more drunk.

Jack leaves angrily and returns to his apartment, a mess with dozens of maps of what appears to be the Pacific Ocean and many items that are marked "Oceanic". Here he calls a woman, asking her to meet him at the airport. When she arrives, the woman is revealed to be Kate. He tells her about the funeral and that he has been flying across the Pacific Ocean every week (using a "Golden Pass" provided by Oceanic Airlines), hoping that the plane will crash. Distraught, Jack tells her that it was a mistake to leave the island, that they "were not supposed" to leave the island and that they have to go back. She disagrees and, crying and visibly distraught, comments that "he's going to be wondering where I am" and gets back into her car and drives off into the night. A passenger jet soars off overhead as Jack yells after her "We have to go back!"

Personality

Throughout the series, it has been stated numerous times that Jack is a natural leader. This has been demonstrated many times by his ability to think quickly and analyze crisis situations. Jack intentionally represses many of his emotions of fear and anxiety, usually in order to remain strong for the other crash survivors. The emotion that he seems to repress most, however, is his deep love for Kate Austen, which he has only twice ever fully admitted to, and even then only once in a very emotional tone of voice. This seems to be because he believes that Kate does not/cannot love him, but rather loves Sawyer, and therefore, there is no point in telling her of his deep devotion. Jack's habit of repression sometimes does flare out, usually in his propensity to become violent when he is enraged. He is also prone to become highly obsessive, which also can lead to violence. However, despite his anger and repression of his feelings, Jack is deep-down a very caring person, who wants desperately to save his fellow survivors, and seems to hate himself because he has not yet succeeded.

Character Notes

• In the original outline of the pilot episode, Jack was supposed to be killed halfway through the two-part pilot; however, early readers claimed killing him off would lose viewers. The producers subsequently cast Fox in the role as a permanent character after considering a well-known guest star such as Michael Keaton.
• Jack's tattoo is an actual tattoo Matthew Fox has in real life. It contains a 5, two letters BC, a Lebanese Phalangist symbol, and four Chinese characters 鹰击長空, which means "eagle striking the sky", a sentence taken from Changsha, a poem by Mao Zedong.
• Jack is Claire's half-brother, and therefore Aaron's uncle, but neither of them know this.
• In the episode Pilot, Part 1, Jack tells Kate that he "took a couple of flying lessons" prior to the crash.